Glenn responds to critic who says rights come from man not God

by Wilson

On radio this morning, Glenn offered an in-depth response to James Kirk Wall, an author and philosopher, who took issue with Glenn’s recent remarks about our rights originating from God.

“Where do our rights come from? Our rights don’t come from religion. They don’t come from a pulpit. They come from God,” Glenn explained. “[Wall] wrote a response to my claim, and let me attribute where actually I first heard the outrageously ridiculous claim that our rights come from God: America’s Founding Fathers. That’s how ridiculous my source is… In fact, I think you’d probably actually have to go back to Moses maybe, but why quibble here?”

In an article for ChicagoNow, “Dear Glenn Beck, human rights have never come from god,” Wall argues that anyone who claims rights come from God actually wants to take those rights away. “That is someone who wants a theocracy,” he writes in the October 27 post. “It’s not about using god to claim that you have rights (even though that in itself is absolute nonsense), it’s about others claiming that their rights come from their god to take your rights away.”

“So James, the common theme among the atheists is that people of God are the ones that take away the rights and human life. But if you really understand Christianity, human life is sacred and it is absolutely absurd to think otherwise,” Glenn said in response to that particular claim. “But sadly, James had much more to say:”

Our rights do not come from god as no one has ever had the authority to speak for god any more than anyone else. We can’t even get people who follow the same book to agree on the interpretations and meanings. We don’t even know what god is or even if god exists at all. Someone stating, or even taking the impressive effort of writing down that they speak for god doesn’t make it true.

“And James, I mean this sincerely: You may not, and that’s totally cool. It’s totally cool that you don’t think there is a god or you may not know if there is a god. It’s totally cool. I do, and I respect your right to not believe in God. And I’m not going to kill you or take away your right. I don’t want to take away your right,” Glenn said. “I was an atheist for, it was about a month… maybe. But I was an atheist too. I couldn’t get my arms around it. I read Carl Sagan. I’ve read Stephen Hawking. I get it. I get it. Stephen Hawking – I think black holes and baby universes explain God. Now he thinks the exact opposite, but that’s okay. Hey, to each his own.”

“Well, then James, I just want to make sure I have this right. You would have no problem whatsoever when mankind takes your right away. You should simply accept it as the new reality that we’ve evolved into, right? If we just evolve into a society that says God should make sure that James doesn’t have a right to speak about his godlessness, then we have evolved into that. Or is it only evolution one way or another?”

“You have it exactly backwards… Here’s what you have wrong: Rights dictate laws, not the other way around,” Glenn said emphatically. “The United States Constitution dictates our rights. The United States Constitution, based on the rights given to us by God. From there, the Constitution says these things cannot be changed at all. You cannot change these things because these come from God. Now, make all the laws you want. And that’s where mankind changes his mind: Slavery’s right, slavery’s wrong; smoking’s good, smoking’s bad. That’s man. That’s not God.”

Your browser does not support iframes.

“You’re confusing laws with rights. If rights come from people, then they can be taken away,” Glenn continued. “For instance, in China the people have rights. We know it. They’re living in abject poverty and slavery of a system, and we know that if they come over here, they have the same rights that we have. If you were over there, James, if suddenly let’s say there was a transporter and you could say, ‘Beam me to China’ and it beamed you over to China, you would say, ‘But wait, I have rights.’ No. No, no. They would say, ‘Where do you think you are? America?’ No, we have laws, and this man who’s in charge, he’s the one who says who has rights and who doesn’t have rights. You have no rights [because] there’s no place to go because there is no higher authority than the man in charge.”

Using Wall’s argument the people in China (regardless of where they live) do not have the right to be free. They do not have the right to speak their mind. They do not have the right to protest.

“So it’s not about taking away your rights. If you’re looking at all laws come from God, well, then you are talking about a theocracy,” Glenn conceded. “If you’re talking about all rights come from God, you’re talking about freedom because then man cannot touch those rights.”

“I could go on, James Kirk, but I know you have planets and stuff to go visit and places to explore that no man has gone before. It would make a lot of sense if you would look things up and you would look up the definition of rights and the definition of laws. I highly recommend, James Wall, that you would read our Founding Fathers… I don’t know where you’re getting your information, but actually look into it with an open mind because atheists can come to an understanding and be totally cool with natural rights, nature’s god, and nature’s rights, different than man’s laws… So you keep your prime directive. I’ll hold fast to the divinely inspired United States Constitution and rights, where I know the difference between the two.”

This “rights come from man and man’s governments” results in atrocities like those committed by Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Pol Pot, Castro and other tyrants in recent history. The communist (or whatever label you want to put on these kinds of people) seeks to eliminate God from the public square, or even to ban Bibles and church gatherings. When this is permitted to happen, very bad things occur and millions of innocent people are murdered for the “cause.” It really still is evil vs. good and good (God) always wins in the end. These God-deniers are foolish, foolish people but sadly they don’t know how foolish they really are.

Anonymous

Unfortunately, some day they will learn how foolish that statement is that they made unless they know the Lord as their Savior.

Jaamoose

It’s almost too bad there isn’t an afterlife, because we atheists will never get the chance to say “we told you so.”

greywolfrs

If there were, you would never get that chance, since you would be WRONG. You really are one dumb M F er.

Average Joe.

We’ll be the ones who get that chance. Enjoy. LOL

Anonymous

What makes you think there is not an afterlife of some kind. How can you know that? It is a belief like any other belief.

Anonymous

In other words, if you’re right, no one will know it.

If I’m right, everyone will know it.

Bruce Santucci

And there’s the rub Jaamoose – If you’re right, then nothing matters. Humans are not important. If we’re right, everything matters. Humans are important and our progress as a race of beings is meaningful.

Anonymous

I won’t refute that rights come from the Creator. I agree 100% However, to be intellectually honest, it’s not only the Communists who have been the ‘strong arm’ of man’s inhumanity to man. There is also the US government by way of the US Army vs. the native American tribes. Germ warfare against the tribes will forever tarnish our nation’s record. An atrocity is an atrocity. PERIOD. Communists professing their Godlessness seek to eliminate God without an after thought. Whereas in the cases I mentioned, these were men who considered themselves believers. Yet as believers they ignored the very words of Christ himself by intentionally infecting women, children and infants. To me that made them AT LEAST as corrupt. Knowing what I know of God, I have no trouble saying they KNEW better. They chose to do what they did in spite of what they believed. We all need to determine for ourselves just how we view this historical fact.

Anonymous

You have some good points there, Big_Jake. Any sort of culture suppression/religion suppression and atrocities committed in those efforts are a shame on our histories. Freedom for all is the most important way for a people to stay out of the bad-guy status.

Anonymous

I am not aware of germ warfare against Indian tribes. Please explain.. The Constitution granted Indians U.S. citizenship only when they came off the reservation and paid taxes. Those that did normally interbred with the general population. Indian tribes were originally intended to have their own jurisdictions and power to govern themselves. If you were Navaho you were Navaho and not a U.S. Citizen until you came off the reservation. The word American was used by Europeans and those who settled here so Indians were never native Americans. Jurisdiction is now being clouded because of federal power grab and even states are losing that battle. Jurisdiction is one key in restoring rights and limiting federal power. Jurisdiction is now a clouded issue because States and Indians Tribes are said to have given up their self governing power by accepting federal government privileges and entitlements. What you may think of only as a suppression of Indians at this time is now common among everyone as liberal fascism is sweeping the country. What I have said to you is well intended so you can understand the jurisdictional issue and the battle we all have right now against federal encroachment of jurisdiction and freedom.

According to your site this statement (There is also the US government by way of the US Army vs. the native American tribes. Germ warfare against the tribes will forever tarnish our nation’s record.” is inaccurate. “Lord Jeffrey1
Amherst was commanding general of British forces in North America
during the final battles of the so-called French & Indian war (1754-”

Germ warfare is unusual for that era if true. Amherst sounds like a despicable man but he was a solder in the English army long before there was a U.S. army or U.S. government. People are different. Some do not respect human life and are power hungry. There are many stories of friendship with Indians such as the Narragansett Indians of Rhode Island and the founder of Rhode Island, Roger Williams. You cannot judge everyone by the acts of some. There are atrocities on both sides in every war. Amherst seems like he went out of he way to start a war.

Anonymous

Sweetheart, who created the creator?

Anonymous

Vacant, sweetheart, how did something come out of nothing? Explain that to me, idiot.

You haven’t a clue “Uncle Richie”. You “simple-folk” are so funny. I’m still waiting for you to quote me the “Atheists Constitution” but so far, nothing as usual.

Why do you insist on embarrassing Diana and Dawn like you do? I’m sure they’re embarrassed of you!

Anonymous

What’s in it you say? Probably a lot of nothing, hot air or crap, sort of like that space in your head that should house a brain.

Average Joe.

Flag the ignorant Atheist and save the planet one click at a time.

scriptures are us

KJV Revelation 1:5-6

[5] And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the
earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

[6] And hath made us kings and priests unto

God and his Father;
to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Anonymous

Sweetheart you’re quoting the bible, Aren’t you? Who wrote the bible?

Average Joe.

Hey moron. I’m still waiting for you to post where it says “”the constitution prohibits god from the public square.”

So far nothing from you little fella. Are you just a liar or an idiot?

C’mon, post them proof or STFU.

Stop harassing people and making an ass out of yourself.

Average Joe.

Ignore Vacuum man. He’s just a stupid Atheist moron.

Flag him and save the planet one click at a time.

Dan Long

The non believers keep asking this question thinking that they’ll outsmart us, the believers. But if you actually have done your research into Christian believes (as should anybody do, if they want to prove something) then you would know the
answer. NOBODY. GOD always was and HE would always will be, HE is not of this world and he is not complying with our laws of physics.
This is just in case you are serious and want an answer.

Anonymous

Sweetheart, you claimed god always was, didn’t you? Now the question is, can you prove that? When you can, then we have something to talk about. Until then your just pissing in the wind.

Anonymous

Someone needs to sh1t on your face…in the wind. Open wide!

Anonymous

Sweetheart you must be a Christian, am I right? I’ll do you one better, I’m layin’ 8 to 5 that you’re a creationist. Am I right?

Average Joe.

I’ll lay you 8 to 5 that you can’t prove the non existence of GOD and until you can PISS-OFF.

Folks, flag this idiot and save the planet one click at a time.

Anonymous

Got PROOF!!!!!

Joey sweetheart, when you start taking personal responsibility for yourself, and prove to us that your not a lying sack of shit, by proving you have 5000 hours air-time, then I’ll start to listen to you. Until then. we have nothing to talk about. BATTA-BING!!

Average Joe.

You don’t demand anything of anyone here. You have no credibility you ignorant moron.

Why won’t you answer my questions little fella? You lie, you smear others, you even jump around like a crazed chimp but you never post any proof or answer any questions.
C’mon little fella, answer the questions. Suck it up and be a man for once. It’s not my fault that your life sucks. That you’ve never really accomplished anything but don’t take it out on me.

Anonymous

GOT PROOF????????

Average Joe.

Yes I do.

Where’s the answers to my questions? RONFLMFAO

Average Joe.

Here ya go Sweetheart. Everything you want to know about me and my Military service. Just for you “simple-folk”. LMAO

He embarrasses his family every day like this. Over and over and over and over. He’s a lonely little fella with no friends.

Average Joe.

The question I’ve asked you for months on end, prove there’s no God or piss-off you atheistic little moron.

You never show any proof of anything Richie. You’re an idiot embarrassing your family.

Dan Long

Sorry but I don’t have to prove anything to you or anybody else. If you want to believe it or not, is your choice (the only person that has anything to lose hear is you). God give us free will after all. I choose to believe like you choose not to believe. That is why believing in God is called a religion. You also have to believe there is no God so yes not believing is also a religion because it is not possible to prove that there is no God. I will pray for you to see the truth. I could tell that you have so much hate inside, I’m sad for you (and I say this from my heart). Hate is so self destructive. It is so sad to believe that all that exits is this life and there is nothing more. God help you.

Anonymous

Can YOU prove He doesn’t exist!?

Anonymous

Can YOU prove He doesn’t exist!?

Average Joe.

Flag this moron and save the planet one click at a time.

Kent Hollingsworth

That’s a good question Richard. Ponder this one, ‘Which came first, evolution or moral thought?’

Nate

Replace “Bibles” with “Qu’ran”.
Replace “Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Pol Pot, Castro” with “Bush, Cheney.”
Sounds a lot like the Taliban, doesn’t it? Different god, different holy book, different enemy, same attitude, same belligerent hatred. This is the same ideology that has fueled countless wars.

Don’t get me wrong – you have the freedom to hate. Just don’t try to justify it with religion. It’s pathetic.

I know i’m going to get hate mail from this, but I don’t really care. It needs to be said. Whether or not anyone is going to listen is… well, ‘in the hands of God’, I guess.

JLM

one small difference, Bush and Cheney are not out to rid the world of all muslems. We believe all men have the right to worship how and who they wish as long as their worship does not infringe upon another’s right to worship as they wish. ” Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances.”

Anonymous

If you’re going to throw around accusations like this, you should back it up with some evidence. Here, let me show you how:

Hitler was Roman Catholic, had full support from the Vatican, and has never been excommunicated.

“We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith.
We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement,
and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped
it out.” -Adolf Hitler, in a speech in Berlin on 24 Oct. 1933

“Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will
of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am
fighting for the work of the Lord.” -Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)

Stalin was raised to be a Catholic Priest and reformed the Russian Orthodox Church once he gained power.

Pol Pot was a Theravada Buddhist that went to 8 years of Catholic school.

If anything, Catholicism seems to be the true source of evil and should be done away with.

Stop trying to blame atheists for the worlds problems. As atheists, we
believe this one life is all we have and is therefore all that much more
important to us.

Anonymous

There are too many inaccuracies in your statements to try and deal with here, and frankly, if you and your ilk were intellectually honest enough to do any research rather than vomiting out the revisionist pablum you have been spoon fed by your handlers, you might actually be ashamed at how wrong you are. But shame certainly is not a characteristic I would expect from an atheist. Snarky elitism on the other hand…

Anonymous

Inaccuracies? Point out a single one.

Tommy

So what you’re telling me is that Hitler was acting in the name of God and the Catholic Church when he murdered 3 million Catholics?

And Stalin also acted for the Catholic Church when he promoted anti-religious propaganda, atheism in schools, a terror campaign against religions, and countless other atrocities like this?

And honestly, what does going to a Catholic high school have to do with anything? I know multiple atheists (some of which are socialists, by the way) who go or went to Catholic high school.

Essentially, your arguments are baseless and incorrect.

http://gre.gs/ Awfy

Hitler and Stalin both acted in favor of their belief or lack of belief. There isn’t a victor in this scenario since both were guilty of being misguided by a belief structure.

Dustin Haugh

Yep

Jaamoose

You are so right – the mad mind almost always has religious fundamentalism behind it.

greywolfrs

Then what could possibly behind your stupid mind? Nevermind, don’t bother to answer, I do not really want to know.

Rhonda Kelley (nee Williams)

LOL, and you get this information… this “truth” from where? One of the many things God gives us is “a sound mind”. Keep studying and digging and seeking the truth… eventually He will find you.

Anonymous

Wait a minute, many atheists were also raised catholic and yet many are okay guys -until they try to take away freedom of speech and religion from others. Just because in 1933 Hitler still had some semblance of Catholic faith and loyalty and Stalin growing up had religion, does not mean they hadn’t rejected it by the time they started committing atrocities. Stalin’s Russia was by force atheist, religion became banned and people were killed for it; you can;t ignore that fact and try to lecture on backing things up. Hitler began to prefer the Germanic pagan gods as he became more and more prideful in his “one true race”. You have to look at the context, otherwise you are being disingenuous. All of these people began weeding out religion to gain total control of their people. Constantine is just as guilty, and he chose Christianity -he hijacked it for political purposes and made it the religion of state to control people. Whether it is done with a religion or with atheism it is still wrong, but looking at one’s religion growing up and pre-psychopathic stage is not very helpful.

Anonymous

What a load of BS. Hitler was a bigger narcissist than Obama, he bows to no one, especially Pope Pius XII, who wrote an encyclical criticizing the war, antisemitism, and the underground Vatican movement saved thousands of lives, of both Jewish and other POW’s Israel ambassador salutes Pope Pius XII for sheltering Jews from Holocaust http://www.catholicculture.org/news/head…

“Pius XII? This is the only human being who has always contradicted me
and who has never obeyed me.” Adolf Hitler — from Hans Jansen’s The
Silent Pope? (2000)

In October 1958 in front of the United Nations General Assembly, Golda
Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel, said of Pope Pius XII at his death :

”During the 10 years of Nazi terror, when our people went through the
horrors of martyrdom, the Pope raised his voice to condemn the
persecutors and commiserate with their victims.”

Some of the Jewish organizations that praised Pope Pius XII at the time
of his death for saving Jewish lives during the horror of the Nazi
Holocaust were:

+ The World Jewish Congress

+ The American Jewish Committee

+ The American Jewish Congress

+ The Anti-Defamation League

+ The Central Conference of American Rabbis

Mr_TrueReality

This is what the first 1/2 of the 2nd paragraph of The Declaration Of Independence actually says.
The founders referred to “Natures God” in the first paragraph.
Note that ‘Creator’ is capitalized but, ‘God’ is not used here.
The unalienable rights had to be stated and defined so they would have merit for never ending, justifiable DEFENSE from other peoples who would effort to subvert the natural order of the life and existence of civialized mankind which is freedom.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Look up the definitions of EACH key word in EACH sentence and you will understand how beautifull and unique this world changing document was and how valuable it is to the whole of all mankind to preserve and protect/defend:
The United States Of America!!!!
Mr TR

Anonymous

Rights are inherent in the people. Even if you are an atheist you should never believe rights come from government. If government grants rights then they can take them away so there could never be an infringement of rights as the government is the one who decides.

TheRentschmeister

Sorry, but you obviously have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

First, we’ll deal with the “Hitler was a Christian” lie courtesy of Dinesh D’Souza’s:

“Christianity is the worst of the regressions that mankind can ever have undergone, and it’s the Jew who, thanks to this diabolic invention, has thrown him back fifteen centuries.” -Hitler’s Table Talk, pg 322

“Hitler’s relationship in public to Christianity – indeed his relationship to religion in general – was opportunistic. There is no evidence that Hitler himself, in his personal life, ever expressed any individual belief in the basic tenets of the Christian church”.
-Laurence Rees; The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler; Ebury Press; 2012; p135.

Then on to Stalin. It’s fascinating (but not at all suprising) that both you and the article you reference leave out WHY the ATHEIST Stalin created his own Russian Orthodox Church…which was to mobilize every corner of the Russian populace he could reach in the effort to fight against the NAZIs. Yet again, context matters.http://faroutliers.blogspot.com/2008/08/stalin-reinstates-church-1942-43.html

It wasn’t “Atheism” that led to these men (plus Mao) into slaughtering more people than any others in Humanity’s modern era. It was their belief in the warped, twisted ideology that was spawned by the degenerates Marx and Engels. An ideology where the STATE was “God”….themselves as the godhead. Call it their “Religion of Conveniance”

Mr_TrueReality

Gotta love the TRUTH!!
Mr TR

Anonymous

If all the above “examples” are true, it highlights the failures of man, not God. If any of the above are false, it highlights your failure.

The failures of man are no reasons to reject God and His church.

Nanette

Your example leaves a lot to be desired..and very foolish. You talk as if Catholics are the only Christians in the world, when in fact being a true Christians has nothing to do with denomination. Hitler was also Jewish! You also say these certain evil men were of a certain faith so all Christians or people of faith must therefore be evil! If you read history…once was..is the story. Being catholic does not always mean automatic Christian. I no longer very get into a debate with atheist anymore because their “faith” is greater than any “faith” than I have ever seen! It takes a lot of faith to believe..like this; “take a watch,a very complicated watch and take it apart, put it in a bag and shake it up for lets say 1 million years..then look in the bag, what ..presto, it is a whole watch..” That takes a lot of faith…and we need to hand it to you atheist . no one has it on you guys when it comes to “faith” in what you beleive!

Dagger Rose

It’s not the religion, it’s what lays within the person. And that is how religions get their “extremists”. Go recheck your “facts”… they are biased, clouded, and full of resentment.

Rhonda Kelley (nee Williams)

CapinContra, you are confusing religion with God. It’s a common error these days.

Robin Parker

Catholicism is in no way Christianity. The Romans in biblical times sought to destroy Jesus. Maybe you should research the differences between Christianity and religion before sounding foolish. The Holy Bible states: Matthew 24:3-4…3And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Mark 9:42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
I’d be very careful in that one life you have. Whether you believe in God or not, He believes in you. You have been deceived, And I ask that you be careful to not deceive anyone else. Jesus is the way, truth and life. No man comes unto the Father but by him only. I pray you don’t miss out on the greatness he has for you.

Anonymous

“Catholicism is in no way Christianity.”

What?

Catholicism is a Christian denomination. As such, all Catholics are Christian, but not all Christians are Catholic. It isn’t a difficult concept.

“The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world’s largest Christian church, with 1.2 billion members.”

Sweetheart, the constitution prohibits god from the public square. If we could put up a god, How would we know which god to put up? How did you pick your god? Dartboard?

Average Joe.

Please show where the Constitution prohibits god from the public square! Be specific little fella. You Atheists are the “silly-folk” and your stupidity is evident.

Anonymous

Sweetheart, the constitution is written in English. You should sit down and read it some day. After you read it, I’ll be happy to explain to you. Now go read it and stop embarrassing making a fool out of yourself. BATTA-BING!!

Average Joe.

I have a copy right here on my desk. Now show me where it says you can’t have God in the public square and be VERY SPECIFIC. You “Simple-Folk” are so amusing.

I’ll wait you Hate filled little moron.

Anonymous

You realize Vacant hasn’t replied because he can’t reply, sweetheart the constitution was meant to say government should have no say in religious affairs. Your not only to read the constitution but read the founders intent in their letters and speeches. That being said I am one of those people who thinks government and religion should be separate but sweetheart of course is misreading the constitution as he misreads EVERYTHING.

Anonymous

Joey sweetheart you have a copy of the constitution on your desk? Is it right next to your bible, another book you haven’t read? Joe tell us us, What does the constitution say? Type it out so you can get a feel for it. I’ll wait.

Average Joe.

I told you to be VERY SPECIFIC and you come back with nothing but ignorance. You “simple-folk” are so funny. Come on Richie, be a man and put up or shut TFU.

Average Joe.

Hey Richie, I’m still waiting for you to post where “the constitution prohibits god from the public square.”

You’re full of shit and hatemongers like you continue to show how ignorant you are.

Post it and be VERY SPECIFIC so everyone can see how ignorant you “simple-folk” are. C’mon, be a man and post the proof so everyone can see it. Just how stupid are you? You mouth off but can’t follow up on anything your hate filled brain comes up with.

I’m still waiting Atheist.

Anonymous

Heh, “you Hate filled little moron.” I wonder who really is the hate-filled moron in this discourse.

Average Joe.

I know what your problem is “Uncle Richie”, you have the Atheist version of the Constitution to go by, not the real one. Still Post your proof and be VERY, VERY SPECIFIC.

You “Simple-Folk” are so funny. It’s a pleasure to slap you morons around. Why do you embarrass Dawn and Diana like this?

Anonymous

Explain how you helped the victims of Newtown.

Average Joe.

Tony, he has no Idea what he’s talking about. He’s just a blowhard and a liar. The victims at Newtown were killed by one of his fellow Atheists.

http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.johnson.3760 Elizabeth Johnson

When we separate ourselves from the God of the Bible, and His Son, when we separate ourselves from our creator who gives us breath, and life down here, that’s when trouble starts.

Anonymous

Now what if I let Jesus into my heart to share the space with Krishna, Buddha , Mohammed & others?

Wasn’t it Christians who committed genocide all over the Americas for 100s of years?

Didn’t Christianity become the official religion of the Roman Empire after countless wars?

Are you sure your god is good and always wins?

Dustin Haugh

It’s really weird reading the comments on this site. Most of it is christian hate mongering. This is what christians do for some reason. Probably because the yahweh was quite an evil god in the bible. But then there was jesus, and he changed everything… because gods change like that all the time when they kill their only son for the sake of everyone else’s sins. It all sounds a little crazy to me.

Anonymous

He also should read John Locke, who inspired Jefferson.

Anonymous

Which god?

socialist suck

the ONLY God, low IQ issues?

Mike Nelson

Are you insulting all people who don’t believe as you do? Or only picking a fight? Or are you just a BIble-bully with a high school jock mentality?

In any case, how very, very Christian of you.

Considering the majority of the world does not bear Christian beliefs as their primary spiritual bulwark, perhaps it is you, in the eyes of the world, who has a questionable quotient of intellect… but I daresay that most enlightened persons would probably not insult you for that.

Tommyzax

Obviously, if we are logical, there is either a God or no God, but there is not a consensus of equal gods. Your choice is one or none. We can argue but it would just be splitting hairs. Now, if you do believe in one God, you believe in one Law. The question posed was, which law? Everyone knows the Law of God is Torah, and they either accept or fight against it. But there is no multicultural equalization which makes one God the same as another. The “other” is always the idol. The enlightenment of man is not away from God or Law, which are invincible as well as invisible (their strength!). Rather, moving towards elevating particular men as wiser, which merely supplants and substitutes God for “gods” is and always has been the problem, whether those “gods” are Pharaohs, kings, Popes, or Presidents.

Anonymous

Missing the point. It isn’t “which god,” it’s the idea that rights are EXTERNAL to men and governments, independent of. If you want to get god out of the equation, then assert natural law: That certain rights exist as a function of your existence as a human being. The Founding Fathers declared three of these essential rights to be Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Now, you can argue that those rights were created by the Founding Fathers, but that’s not the point. The point is they didn’t CLAIM to have created them, but only to have DISCOVERED them, that those rights were and are external to any other man or government.

Anonymous

The phrase is “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights…” Unalienable means cannot be transferred , taken away or given away.

Mike Nelson

Inalienable rights can indeed be given away, sold, or lost due to the unenlightened practices of those would would fall prey to the “company store” mentality/behavior.

Inalienable rights must be known to be protected and defended, or, in the case of a repressive oversight already established, to be gained, or regained.

That is the primary struggle in which Beck has thrown his hat as a defender of human dignity, and why most of us consider him to be a prescient leader in the fight against growing tyranny.

But I agree with your premise otherwise.

Tommyzax

Not which God, which LAW? There is only one Law, both Christian and Islamic coming from Torah. This accounts for quite a bit. I can account for the rest any time you like. Once you know the Law, you know the God. Shema. The first question is always, will you obey?

Mike Nelson

Does it matter?

Anonymous

Who is James Kirk Wall?

Anonymous

If this guy really had studied the evolution of thinking from the Middle Ages to the late 1700’s that resulted in the founding of the United States, through the stating of the Declaration of Independence, based on our very own Constitution – this guy clearly understands what Glenn has expressed. For him to reverse centuries of evolved thinking to revert to his Neanderthal-like philosophy is bizarre. This is a pure example of “just because you can do it – doesn’t mean you should”. What a sad, lonely, loser of a guy. God gives me life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – NO man can take that away. Look at prisoners, slaves, oppressed civilizations. They all have one thing in common. They overcame the tyrants who tried to take away these rights. We can overcome what’s happening in the US & which is trying to be foisted upon us by this guy and others. Thanks, Glenn for stating what every person knows to be true in their hearts!

Joseph Kucera

Thank you dee1889, May I take ‘liberty’ w/ ur order? “pursuit of Happiness” INDEED, W.E. may pursue Happiness, BUT, OVER HOW MANY HURDLES NEED I JUMP? I used 2 knock on doors & ask IF they wanted me 2 shovel the snow off of their stoops & driveways, 4 $2! BACK THEN, I DIDN’T CARE IF THEY HAD LIABILITY INS. 4 MY ACTIVITY! -TODAY, with litigiousness ABOUNDING, Mr Homeowner will spend many more times my paltry request! THERE EXIST TOO MANY RESTRICTIONS TO THE ‘FREE’ ENTERPRISE SYSTEM, (ain’t no wonder this ONCE-THRIVING ECONOMY IS IN THE TANK!) ~LIBERTY~!: Liberty IS THE RIGHT 2 B WRONG! & if detrimental 2 those around U.S.. Society, Not the Government, are the driving force behind this! SOCIETY IMPOSES A PENALTY! NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT 2 MY MIND! P.C., FEAR ARE THE ENEMIES OF LIBERTY! Are U afraid 2 speak ur mind? THEN, U ARE NOT “FREE”! R U AFRAID THAT SOMEONE WON’T LIKE WHAT U SAY: Based on the 1st Amendment: ~ {Sorry}, SCREW ‘EM!

The problem here are the terms “life liberty and pursuit of happiness”. Does life translate to ability to breathe and exist or can you say that life is food stamps and health care? Liberty sounds easy, freedom. Freedom for a woman to choose, freedom to commit suicide, freedom to bear arms, freedom to bear machine guns, freedom to pass gun laws. How about pursuit of hapiness, gay marriage makes people happy, putting illegal immigrants across the border makes other happy. Your idea of an oppressed civilization is another mans nirvana of reasonable regulation. Quite frankly I believe you are the foister and that makes me happy, so I have completed my pursuit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDFGELoC4zc Sam Fisher

I think James Kirk Wall did not think this out to well.

Anonymous

He basically argued the point Glenn made at the end about rights coming from nature’s god. Our rights come from man who developed them through millions of years of evolution that have biologically predisposed ourselves to cooperation. Through that predisposition as we have come together in larger social gatherings we have advanced in our ideas in governance and philosophy to find the best way, and what we find most moral, to live by.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDFGELoC4zc Sam Fisher

That is how you feel but I see things a little different.

Anonymous

It seems to me Edward, that natural selection is a fundamental tenent of the theory of evolution. Natural selection is actually something that we can observe and prove – unlike the rest of the theory – and always it comes down to the survival of the fittest. Throughout all of nature, females choose the fittest, strongest, most dominant males. Mutants and the weak are shunned and do not reproduce. This process continues today. How then do you propose that man has “predisposed ourselves to cooperation”? Men and women have been killing each other for as long as we can actually investigate history. As for advanced ideas of governance – name one country free of government corruption and waste in the history of man.

Anonymous

It’s because we are a social species, we operate in groups. Certainly the weakest link gets screwed, but we grouped together as communities to survive and are programed, by God evolution or whatever, to seek out the company of others. We enjoy doing works of charity and feel good about ourselves when he help others b/c being generous floods our brains with dopamine. Without generally gathering and working together in communities our species would have died out long ago.

Advanced is relative. It is more advanced than it was, and the idea being that it will continue to advance and improve. Out of tribal autocracies came feudalism etc, that kind of advancement and generally improvements. Advanced hardly means perfect or even good. Just changing based on new knowledge gathered from current and previous experience.

Anonymous

I agree we are a social species Edward but have logical arguments you might consider.
First, the core of any and all communities is the family. Families stayed in close proximity because they needed to protect themselves from other families that might seek to take from them their lives and/or properties. Families/communities have been destroying each other as long as man has drawn breath. What makes you believe that will change now?
Second, if we are programmed, there must be a “programmer” – an impersonal process like evolution has no power to create and/or program anything. Who is that programmer?
Third, if our programming rewards us for acts of generosity, is it not logical that we would naturally follow that programming? Why then is it necessary to teach our children to share, to consider the needs and desires of others – even their own siblings?
The advances or impovements of governance you refer to would depend on mankind actually learning from history but in reality, we seem to keep repeating the same mistakes made by previous generations. Change, in and of itself, is not necessarily improvement.
Consider this if you will: there is a programmer, He created you with a purpose, He loves you even though you say “no” to Him, He knows that you can not pay the price for your own disobedience so He asked another to take your place so that you could be redeemed and He has told us the end from the beginning. Consider Jesus, Edward, He considers you worth His own life.

Tony Coggins

God Almighty created our being and life and a purpose for our life. Without Him there would be no life Evolution does exist in some forms, but it cannot create or design life- it can only change life over long periods of time through natural selection.This natural selection was also designed by God.

He gave us our life, our rights, and the principles to live by. He is our Savior and redeemer. He is our all in all and without Him. no life could or would exist. By believing in Him and his Son, Jesus Christ and his death on the cross and resurrection, He will change your life and open your eyes and you can trust Him that you will have eternal life. If you are a skeptic or need more proof, read a medical book on the human body and you will see the purpose and design that it took to create a living breathing human being. You inherit your characteristics through a marvelous gene system that is passed on from generation to generation. Remember your human life is a gift and your eternal life is also a gift from God. You only have to believe that Christ gave his life for you.

Anonymous

Agreed Tony. My intent was to point out the logical flaw in Edward’s argument. Evolution – macro evolution, not micro evolution, a term used by some to describe the minor changes within a species – is a process with no power to “predispose” anyone to anything. Evolution has been presented as established scientific fact for so long that some people don’t even question it but in truth, the theory of evolution is merely established science fiction. When evidence does not support the theory, it is simply ignored or suppressed by the psuedo-scientific community that refuses to consider let alone acknowledge the soverienty of God.

Anonymous

Thank you, Glenn. Rights cannot be usurped by laws, so bonehead James is a complete fool.

Maurice Goulet

I think Bob Dillon said it best, “Everybody serves someone sometimes.” The first thing Satan said to Eve was “Hath God Said?” From there the discussion evolved to “Hey, you have the right to make your own decision and you can be just like God” Well from that point on, man must decide to believe that God is Sovereign or not. If God is Sovereign then how can rights come from man? The whole world is caught up in one of the biggest LIES in the history of the world. The majority of the Christian world is under the influence of this lie. If you’re ready to find out what this lie is, follow me on twitter @ MoGoulet

Sargonarhes

James K Wall doesn’t seem to understand the differences between Rights and Laws. It’s because of our Rights that some Laws get declared Un-Constitutional as the Constitution is a document not just outlining our Rights, but what the Government CAN’T and Should NOT be allowed to do to you.

JKW just failed Civics 101.

Tommyzax

Torah is God’s Law. Follow that first. Stop using man’s doctrine and desire to get out of doing things. Once you have Torah, you have Constitution. You’ll understand why devil worship, male homosexuality, and most oppression is wrong (some is not only condoned, but commanded). Don’t tell me you’re not under the Law and under it at the same time. That’s liberal doublespeak. That’s why the communists and Islamists are winning. Maybe I should get the Muslims to believe in Torah.

Mike Nelson

I wish you (c/w)ould.

You have made one of the most succinct and viable points I have seen made on these forum.

Kudos.

Vince Fox

“We hold from God the gift which includes all others. This gift is life — physical, intellectual, and moral life.

But life cannot maintain itself alone. The Creator of life has entrusted us with the responsibility of preserving, developing, and perfecting it. In order that we may accomplish this, He has provided us with a collection of marvelous faculties. And He has put us in the midst of a variety of natural resources. By the application of our faculties to these natural resources we convert them into products, and use them. This process is necessary in order that life may run its appointed course.

Life, faculties, production — in other words, individuality, liberty, property — this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.” – from “The Law”; Frédéric Bastiat

Tommyzax

It’s always the French giving us everything. Bastiat, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Lafayette. Right now, fighting Hollande. We may not like each other, but the French ain’t too bad.

Not of this World

Why is Beck wearing an “all seeing eye” shirt?

Anonymous

Rights come from God, but they don’t apply to certain individuals. Illegal immigrants, Gitmo detainees etc. We certainly don’t act as a country, and certainly conservatives and Glenn have supported many things that are inconsistent with the idea that rights come from god and are universal.
His main point is man came up with what our rights are, makes sense they haven’t always existed and last I checked an angel didn’t come to Thomas Jefferson to write the three inalienable rights, which failed to make their way into the constitution.
“We the people” that’s where our rights come from.

MisterBee

Unlimited Freedom does come from God but we also live with laws that we create that curtails that unlimited state of freedom to a limited state of freedom. We have to have this in order to protect individuals from other individuals but since we create these laws ourselves we decide how and in what manor those liberties are to be curtailed. In the end, we are in total control of how that is to occur and for that reason we can kick out illegals and the others stuff you mentioned.

Anonymous

What rights are given by God then?
If its a God given right then only God has the authority to take it away.
If man can take it away then man gives it by choosing to not take it away.

Tyler Hopkins

You’re connecting two different things here. Rights are “natural” and exist because we exist, but to connect that idea to your second idea, you have to realize that you can forfeit your rights. For example, if you violate my right of property or life etc then you place your own rights at forfeit. If a man attempts to rape a woman and she kills him in self defense, is she not justified? If you attempt to take away the rights of another, then you have forfeited your own.

Anonymous

How can man decide to take away what is given by God? The writer’s point is if man can take it away then by allowing it to exist man essentially gives it. I don’t entirely agree but it’s a valid argument.

Mike Nelson

Do we not see murder every day?

Does that equate to man “giving” life by not killing another?

I think your focus is off on this one, though on an academic basis, I see your point.

Anonymous

I did give a weak explanation.
At the end of the day it doesn’t matter where our rights come from since it is within our power to violate them. What matters is if we think they’re good and we should keep them the way they are or if they should be changed. Since society/communities decide what is and is not a right in that area..

Tyler Hopkins

He can’t, only you can decide to give up your rights and only you can decide whether or not you will attempt to take the rights of another and forfeit your rights. If you have forfeited them, I’m taking nothing you haven’t already surrendered. On the other hand I do see your point on whether or not they have those rights in reality being based on what society decides. But just because we as a society decide that something is a certain way doesn’t mean we are correct. For example, people in the Sudan have a right to property, a right which is frequently violated. Just because their society allows the violation of that right does not mean they didn’t have the right to begin with. And yeah this is really being finicky I know.

Anonymous

Human rights do not really exist. They only occur when citizens are willing to die to protect them. This practice must be affirmed by each successive generation.

Anonymous

The 10 Commandments are Laws that came from God, if it were not for them we would have total chaos.

Jaamoose

Oh, sure, we would all be taking god’s name in vain and manner of crazy things….yours is the assumption of a lazy mind.

John Galt

And yours of a fool’s mind:
“The fool says in his heart, ”There is no God.”- (Psalm 14:1)

Anonymous

what about the functioning societies prior to the ten commandments or those in parts of the world that existed long before knowledge of Christianity or Judaism was available?

http://gre.gs/ Awfy

Yet humans today have worked out that rape and slavery are both highly immoral and unethical. We’ve declared both to be illegal in most countries in the world yet the 10 commandments mention neither. It does however tell you not to say god’s name in ways he doesn’t like and condemns you to eternal torture for such a thing.

Anonymous

From Glenn Beck the messenger.

Anonymous

I know first hand why America is still the destination for millions who want Liberty and Freedom.
SOCIALISTS CAN’T LET YOU BELIEVE THAT GOD gives you your rights…because then the STATE can’t make YOU subservient.
It is ONLY the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION that is standing FIRMLY in the way of the SOCIALISTS in GOVERNMENT from turning the GREATEST COUNTRY ever conceived into another UTOPIA like Venezuela,Cuba,Soviet Union,East Germany China etc…
God Bless America and ALL Americans
Thank you

Jaamoose

The only millions who would choose to come here are mostly in the third world, and anyplace is a step up. The equation is shifting, we aren’t even in the top 10 for most desirable countries to immigrate to. And why – because fundie nutbags have done their best to wreck the place…let the caps lock go and try to engage your brain on facts…..

greywolfrs

You wouldn’t know a fact if one walked up, kicked you between the legs and gave you a fat lip. Hey stupid, if people no longer want to come here it’s because of the socialist B S you idiots are trying to impliment. Moron.

John Galt

Interesting that attraction to the US has waned while socialism has gained a foothold. You must be a youngster.

amiciLatinae

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! So Wall said God ‘comes from a pulpit? How tall is the pulpit? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! The thought of a theocracy movement drives this guy’s wildest fears? And he’s from Chicago? Ahhhh-ha-ha-ha-ha! And, “using God?!!” hee-hee-hee-hee-hee. Ho-ho, ahh- ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

MisterBee

In some ways, the legal permission to do something comes from other people around us. What I allow other people to do is reciprocated back to me because they allow me to do the same thing. That is equal rights for all in that they are identical from one person to the other. However, in a natural sense a person inherits unlimited freedom from whatever was responsible for their creation. We have very few limits placed on us where there is no laws.

MisterBee

In some ways, the legal permission to do something comes from other people around us. What I allow other people to do is reciprocated back to me because they allow me to do the same thing. That is equal rights for all in that they are identical from one person to the other. However, in a natural sense a person inherits unlimited freedom from whatever was responsible for their creation. We have very few limits placed on us where there is no laws.

MisterBee

In it is just inevitable that people will think like this living in a civilized society. Over time we just assume the civil authority exist naturally just like the grand canyon does. We then assume whatever rights we have in the system are the only ones that can possibly exist simply because we have no other experience outside that system.

Anonymous

If it’s man then it look’s like trouble ahead and trouble behind .
GOD simple enough above is the true answer !!

Joe

Anything you inherently own is a right. For example, your voice (freedom of speech), freedom to think and believe whatever you like. You have a right to your body, your property, etc. No one has to grant you these things, rather they are yours to begin with. Laws are giving to us by the government, they had to be approved and voted upon. So it is absolute nonsense for people to suggest a man made law is a “right” that you are entitled to. The purpose of laws are to protect our rights, not to give them to us. Of course, many laws in America today infringe upon our rights.

http://www.facebook.com/brian.johnson.71404976 Brian Johnson

You forgot to mention some of the most important god given rights.
God gives us the right to access affordable health care.
God gives us the right to dignified employment with a living wage.
God gives us the right to secure housing and to never have to go without food.
God gives us the right to marry whomever we choose regardless of race or gender. Thanks god.

greywolfrs

Hey, it’s the dumb fuck. What do you know about anything, nothing obviously. Hey stupid, read the First Amendment. You do not have the right to force others to pay for your morality. Dunce.

John Galt

God gives you the right to choose Him or follow the path of the fool. I see you’ve chosen already.

Guest

Yes you have a right to WORK for all those things. God doesn’t give you the right to take anything away from anyone else so you can have those things.

Our rights, our liberty, our individual sovereignty all come from our humanity, a gift from God. There is NO enumeration or grant of rights in any of our founding documents. Our Constitution is by design a set of absolutely clear constraints upon government.

In our Constitution there are specific prohibitions against some egregious tyrannies that government MUST not exercise, such as abridgement of free speech and disarming the people. Additionally, the few responsibilities of government are enumerated therein.

Every patriot must be totally clear on this arrangement – We the People grant our public servants the opportunity to serve our republic and assist us in the protection of our liberties and enforcement of our (Constitutional) laws.

Jaamoose

Rights only come from man, that is it. If some want to delude themselves into thinking their rights come from god, so be it. But even they have to concede that all “god given rights” were told to them by men. God is just an extra, and completely useless, step. I could just as profoundly argue that all rights come from green unicorns.

Onepoint

It would be much better if you and people like you simply understood what an inalienable right is before you start to go off on where they come from.

John Galt

Surprising you haven’t yet.

John M. Ocasio-Parra

Glen, he is right in one thing, human rights are not coming from god, they are given by a living GOD, a creator. Just look at the atheist circle, they still looking for an answer on how the world is being created. They have more faith believing GOD does not exist that they live an empty life. They are not happy, they hate darkness in the night and they afraid of death. God give the men the opportunity to choose between good and bad, men choose bad. The controversy the atheist creates it is because we are living in the last days, and it is written in the Bible what is going to happen.
God will take care of them in the judgment day, when they face GOD, but by the time of their death they will understand that they live a foolish life because they are going to open their eyes and see God in the distance, and the Death taking them to a dark place for eternity. GOD Bless You.

Mr_TrueReality

This is what the first 1/2 of the 2nd paragraph of The Declaration Of Independence actually says.
The founders referred to “Natures God” in the first paragraph.
Note that ‘Creator’ is capitalized but, ‘God’ is not used here.

The unalienable rights had to be stated and defined so they would have merit for never ending, justifiable DEFENSE from other peoples who would effort to subvert the natural order of the life and existence of civialized mankind which is freedom.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Look up the definitions of EACH key word in EACH sentence and you will understand how beautifull and unique this world changing document was and how valuable it is to the whole of all mankind to preserve and protect/defend:
The United States Of America!!!!
Mr TR

Much less, when they don’t even claim God’s will, they just happen to be a member of a church… of men.

Coll

Whenever I see God spelled with a small ‘g’, I know the person who wrote it has no respect for God. If they can not have respect for God Who is perfect, they certainly can not have respect for mankind. Psalm 14:1-2
1. The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.
2. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

Anonymous

“Rights are inherent in the people. Governments are instituted among people to secure those rights.” The spirit of man is inherently free. It can be suppressed and diminished by one’s own limited thinking or the encroachment of others. The Constitution says government shall pass no law infringing on our inherent rights. Of course governments do through regulations which turn inherent rights into government privileges. Ultimately governments end up suppressing rights, not securing them. There are three types of people. Those who want power over people and want to dictate to them. Those who believe they are inherently free and realize they have the duty to respect that in others. And third are those who are not intelligent enough or care enough to understand that the push and pull of the first two matters so they go along with what the majority wants.. If rights come from government then government has the right to take them away and under that theory there could never be an in infringement on rights because they would not be inherent. They would be whatever governmet said they were.

Marcos Hardy

The buckle of the Shutzstaffel, the SS, was inscribed “Gott mit uns”, God is with us.

Anonymous

That’s on the WWI buckle, not the SS. Nice try though.

SS Buckle is ‘Meine Ehre Heisst Treu’ or ‘My honour is named loyalty.’

Marcos Hardy

“God is with us” was the battle cry of soldiers in different murderous empire armies, from the Roman Centurians (Nobiscum Deus) to the Gott Mit Uns of the buckles of the Third Reich (WW2) saps drafted from the billige Kneipen of Munich and Berlin. The Prussian coat of arms sported the same belief on the black eagle that was inscribed with the Hakenkreuz (swastika.) The SS added the motto “Meine Ehre Heisst Treue” after a line in the letter that the mini-mustachioed clown Adolf wrote to the SS thanking them for slaughtering the lumpen mafiosi of Rohm’s SA. The Nazi military, SS included, sported the Gott Mit Uns in the KZ (concentration camps) and on the villages they pilfered and killed women and children. Whenever you have a break from your moonshining for the Teapublicans you should read some modern history and perhaps take a tour of Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen. There you’ll see the black SS uniforms with the skulls and crossbones and the inscription Gott Mit Uns. They did believe, as Glenn Beck and his followers do, that their laws and rights and criminal acts were dictated and given by “Gott.” Ach, du Liebe, hope you learn something before you write next time. Tchuss und Aufwiedersehen!

Pierre O’Toole

You claim that they (SS) believed that their laws and criminal acts were dictated by “Gott”, yet they didn’t follow his precepts. Do YOU really believe that THEY (SS) believed?

Marcos Hardy

Yup, they did. I don’t claim that, is part of the historical record. From Hitler down, all Volksdeutsche were church-going, God-fearing Christians, with a profound belief in the purity of their race and their “God-given rights” to expurgate their land, and the world, of the Jewish scum. That extended to the words inscribed in the gates of the main KZs (Konzentrazions Lager, the extermination camps) that variously read “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Makes You Free) and “Jedem das Seine” (To Each His own or To Each What they Deserve.) They believed that their extermination of the undesirables (the feeble-minded, Gypsies, Jews, Homosexuals, et cetera) was mandated by God and that Adolf was God’s conduit on Earth. Even when they incorporated many pagan beliefs in their rituals. But those pagan activities and iconography can be seen in today’s Christian lore.

Pierre O’Toole

I think you’re missing the point. Example: A God fearing person claims to believe/follow God. He goes out and murders
people contrary to the teachings of God. Does he really believe/follow God?

Marcos Hardy

I don’t know what your point is. Mine is very simple. The Deutsches Volk in the Reich were God-fearing, Church-going folks and followed the Bible and the Christian precepts. The women had to obey their Männer (husbands) and had to follow the regime’s 3Ks precept: Kinder, Küche, Kirche (Children to populate the Reich, Kitchen to feed the family and the country and Church to be righteous, pious and learn the Bible and be close to the Lord.) That didn’t stop Ilse und Kurt to obey the regime and go to slaughter the undesirable in the KZs with gas, billy clubs and in the gallows. They even had their neighborhood slaughter houses. Go to Berlin, walk a row of pretty houses and at the end of the road, voila! Sachsenhausen. Stand on top of the hill and in the valley, voila! Buchenwald. So Ilse und Kurt could return home for dinner with their children and go to church on Sundays. Pangs of consciousness? Nah! It was a slaughter sanctioned by Adolf and the Lord, that gave them the right to do it. Yes, they were firm belivers in God and that he, through Adolf, had mandated them to purify Deutschland and make them the Aryan Race, the only pure one. Deutschland Über Alles, Über Alles im die Welt! Unter Gott und Gott mit Uns.

Anonymous

The Nazis were in error and they made lots of errors. They may have said they believed in God — Satan *knows* (believes in) God — but the Nazis didn’t keep God’s Commandments and neither did Satan. Belief isn’t enough.

Matthew 7:15-16: 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits.”

We have seen the fruits of the Nazis. I cannot judge their souls but I can judge their actions: Their fruit is rotten.

Marcos Hardy

Agree, but the question is, how do we know when somebody, a la Glenn Beck, comes and tel us that our laws and rights emanate from God? Is it different for the modern Germans and the French and the British? Does that give us rights not granted to other nations? Islam also claims their God to mandate their killing of infidels. And in the Bible God mandated a lot of killings, including for fathers to kill their own children. So, what gives?

Anonymous

Yes, you can believe in God and still do things that go against Him. You think all those girls that have sex before marriage don’t believe in God? They do believe, but they still do it. Furthermore, the Bible is not really against genocide, and often prescribes it.

landofaahs

If rights do not come from God, then who are you or anyone else to say anything against me who would say “I have the right to take away from you the most precious of rights, “your life”?

http://gre.gs/ Awfy

How does believing they came from a god prevent someone from taking someone’s life? I lack the belief yet still don’t feel the need to kill people because I personally don’t want to be killed. It’s a pretty straight forward system. If people require religion to implant this idea in them then fair enough but that doesn’t mean everyone needs it.

landofaahs

Because if they do not come from God then it can then just come down to a persons own feelings. You just said “I don’t feel the need to kill people” What if your feelings change? You can then justify it by your own feelings. When you have God as the giver of rights, it does not depend on how you feel. And I don’t think I said if you believe in God that you are prevented by some mystical force from killing someone. David was faithful, yet he sinned and had Uriah killed to hide his own sin. He was confronted with the sin though.

Anonymous

But this is reality. Rights do not come from God. No god will step between a killer and his victim to ensure that the victim’s right to life is upheld. Murder happens and will continue to happen regardless, whether you believe that the right to life comes from God or not. I’m describing reality here. Wishful thinking does not describe truth.

landofaahs

Mine come from God and I don’t care if yours come from Obama’s butt.

Anonymous

Very apt response. I can actually picture you putting on some ear muffs and screaming “LALALA can’t hear you!” and delude yourself into thinking you’ve won the argument.

http://gre.gs/ Awfy

What’s preventing you from losing your faith and taking someone’s life? Your faith is more likely to change than my internal moral compass regarding murder. Your original comment said if someone doesn’t believe their rights come from a god then what’s to stop them taking someone’s life (unless I’m mistaken). That pretty plainly states you think someone without a belief has no reason to not kill someone. When I lack a belief in any god yet am irrefutably against the taking of someone’s life, I’m against the death penalty for instance.

landofaahs

My rights come from God and I could care less if yours come from a cracker jacks box. As far as losing my faith, I have been through a lot in my life and I have not lost my faith and I am willing to die for my faith and since God has sealed me as one of his, I rest secure in his promise. And your logic is warped as you have not understood one thing correctly and are hence not worth my time. As far as taking someone’s life, I feel sorry for you because under just circumstances it is proper to take a life. If someone had a knife to your grandson’s throat and you had a pistol and adequate skills to take him out and you did not, then I think you are major messed up and I would hate to have a grandfather who cared so little for me.

mspatdev

God made the earth, then put Adam and Eve on it. Most everything in our government has “In God We Trust”. The only time it doesn’t is if an aetheist comes along and doesn’t want it on. Then takes it to court to get rid of it. How sad that one person can do so much damage to many. The one person has money and I guess the others have none. obammy is bound and determine to destroy this country. He will get his just due and I think he did with the obammycare mess. I’ve known him to lie with every breath that he takes since 2007. Many others know that to and I’m glad about that. Sebellius was acting like h. clinton when she waved her arms before the investigators. I can’t remember what she said, but a lot more people know that obammy is lying. He is telling the people that it is the insurances fault. If you have gotten a letter from your insurance, it is per obammycare. All of them are a bunch of darn liars. What is so funny, is that ABC, NBC people have received letters. They thought that if they kiss ass to obammy that they are safe, well they aren’t. HA,HA.

Stephannie Avila Lopez

Glenn, if you see this…. Is it completely outrageous to think that Christians will be the next Jews…. as far as persecution due to religion? You should bring some of us common folk on your show from time to time. I would love to pick your brain!

Stephannie Avila Lopez

Lots of horrible things have happened in the name of God. Atheists are not the problem. God gives us all the right to choose. The problem is being denied the right to choose what to believe. We need to respect people and their choices. And even if you have no connection with God, the good ten (or the majority of them, according to your beliefs) are still a pretty good code to live by. And unless I am truly mistaken, the Vatican believes that if it’s a choice between God’s Word and theirs, you should abide by theirs.

Bruce Santucci

With freedom comes great responsibility.

Rhonda Kelley (nee Williams)

I too know that freedom comes from God and the need for it was placed in us by God. The truths which our founding fathers thought to be self-evident, apparently are not so evident to some people. However, I do understand your caller’s fears, because there IS a religion out there now (Islam) which claims their god has given them the right, in fact the mandate to steal from you, to torture and to kill you if you are not a muslim. No wonder some people fear a “god” who can give or take rights that we hold sacred.

Marcos Hardy

I never heard of Islamists stealing, though some sects that claim Islam for themselves do torture and kill. So do the Christian soldiers and bureaucrats of the USA.

Ronald Reiman

Poundsand, you forgot a major player of the 20th century, Mao Tse Tung.

http://suzeraining.wordpress.com/ suz

this is something i really want to see: THE STIPULATIONS. meetings between ordinary people from all walks of life in america, all colors and cultures coming together to form STIPULATIONS which are simple, self-evident good vs. bad stuff. yes, we are in a place where we actually need to have a push for these stipulations and they must be spoken of repeatedly, like a montra, broken down and stipulated to, i.e.:

a woman goes into a bodega, steals a loaf of bread and leaves without paying. it is STIPULATED that she stole and there are consequences for stealing ALWAYS. it doesn’t matter that she has four kids at home who are hungry and that’s why she stole, it is stealing still. mitigation is for the law to deal with.

this is just one example but the goal is to achieve accountability on everyone, especially from the top. top-down doesn’t work because look at what/who they are, so it has to be bottom-up. glenn speaks of this often that change will happen in the locally. these are meetings from communities around the country. it seems rather silly to do this but i believe if we get the people together in the round and say it out loud and long then this will be brought home and back out again. really it’s a reminder because if it isn’t spoken, then it won’t be taught.

http://suzeraining.wordpress.com/ suz

the right to free speech is a law that flows from the right of freedom. we should have called our civil rights civil laws so captain kirk ought not be confused.

Joshua Nearhoof

I understand your point but if god gives us those rights then a man cannot take it away. How can the leader of china take away those rights? Are all men not created equal? It should not matter where you are, any rights that are given by god would supercede anything attempted to be taken away by man. Your rights CAN be taken away and/or violated, our rights come from the constitution, which is a decree by MAN. the men in charge where you are have control of what rights you are entitled.

Jake Harris

I can see where you think that, but when you’re born into a country, such as China or North Korea, are your rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness taken away? Any dictator might tell you that they are, but it’s all a facade. You have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; how that is handled is up to you. Do you exercise that right while living under a dictatorship? Maybe yes, maybe no. If you do, you might get shot. So what? That is the right to the pursuit of happiness. Do you rebel against a dictatorship? That’s you exercising your right to liberty. Do you fight to stay alive? Absolutely. Everyone does. These rights are not taken away by man; it’s impossible. Laws can be. But not our rights. And that’s exactly what Glenn is trying to tell you.

SFerggie

What he is saying is all people have these rights given to them by God. The difference is in the US our Fouding Fathers made sure by way of the Constitution Man could not violate these rights. No other country has such document that protects those rtights.

Anonymous

“Rights come from God”
Here is Glenns interpretation of that quote.
God gave all men rights. I (Glenn) know this God and am a close personal friend of his, therefore I will interpret for God what it means to have these God given rights. So just listen up and I will tell you what God wants you to know.
My response to Glenn.
Fuck You Glenn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Red47

If my rights are not inherent to my humanity, anyone can dictate them. I carry my human rights because I am human. If James has a problem with that, he needs to go be a third-worlder for awhile and let man dictate his rights. He will see the flaw in his cranky tyrannical view.

doug james

Rights come from God? I guess.. if you live in a cave.

Snorri

Human Rights can come from a deity as interpreted by people; from a Constitution as written and enforced by people; from mutual agreement and laws as enacted by people. Basically ones’ rights are what one can defend in law, in court, in force. The question is: are rights based upon ethical principled like the 10 commandments, minding ones’ own business and doing onto others as you would want done to you? Unfortunately, as far as people in general are concerned, keeping one hand on your wallet and the other on the door knob or the gun butt is necessary.

annon.

Reading some of the comments from you religo-nuts makes me very fearful.

Anonymous

says the namecalling person…

Deborah Hallsted

That’s a very interesting take on our rights, I hadn’t looked at it that way before. Good for you Glenn.

http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.johnson.3760 Elizabeth Johnson

One word, Glen: Wow. You said it well, very well. Right on. Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Greg Steele

Either we have natural rights as a result of being born as intelligent self-aware beings (a.k.a. from God) or we have no rights.

I know which I prefer, but history shows that many rulers, leaders, and governments have decided there are no human rights – with the body counts to prove it. Which kind of government do we have now? I sure wish I knew…

Anonymous

Once again, Glenn has a boring debate with himself. Glenn, get this guy on your show and have a real conversation instead of childishly making fun of his name. Anyway, it’s quite reasonable that man has decided what rights we have. He’s decided that to some degree love, respect and freedom are good for society. Apparently rights aren’t that self-evident though considering our country exploited and tortured slaves and massacred its indigenous people.
.

marilyn

Liberals always cry out ‘Evolution’, then they do all they can to put a stop to it.

Anonymous

“Rights come from God”
Here is Glenns interpretation of that quote.
God gave all men rights. I (Glenn) know this God and am a close personal friend of his, therefore I will interpret for God what it means to have these God given rights. So just listen up and I will tell you what God wants you to know.
My response to Glenn.
Fuck You Glenn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous

No one has the right to do evil.

Anonymous

Not sure what you mean Tony. Did George Washington have the right to own slaves (fellow human beings)? He did own slaves. Who gave him that right? Was it God? Was it other men? Was it evil?
You tell me.

Anonymous

You’ve already told yourself.

Anonymous

“…it’s about others claiming that their rights come from their god to take your rights away.”

So you say as an introduction to your assertion to amenable uninformed unformed minds strapped to old wooden desks with no Desktop, You preach there is no intellectual object higher than a human thus denying the very framework of Evolution, a part of the Universal Mind of God, of which Man is a sub-set of evolved circumstances circumscribed by Reason or NOT… oh I could ramble on till you flip-flop over to…

“…it’s about others claiming that their rights come from their NON-god to take your rights away.”

Which BTW empirical data from history shows is the most likely out-come.

Anonymous

In other words, the Rights are working gears of the human mind in the image of the Creator.

I agree with Glenn. It doesn’t matter if Mr Wall ‘believes’ or not. I mean that is provable empirically. 1 of 3 people have experiences which so thoroughly convince them of afterlife potential that you could slap them side of the head with a 2×4 and they would not deny it. If God had wanted everybody to know then 2 out of 3 people would have the ‘experience’.

I just hate it when NON-reasonable liars get power and then “…it’s about others claiming that their rights come from their NON-god to take your rights away.”

Anonymous

So Q
Do you think there is a difference between the rights that are lost by people who loose them in the name of god vs those who loose them in the name of man? Or are they just lost either way?

Anonymous

They exist whether or not one uses them. You can give up your copy, have them taken away, or just watch TV and not need such an imprintation upon your ‘whatever you wanna call it’. Believe it or not, they are actually universal archetype objects in a part of the Universe to which you have no privy.

Anonymous

If they are “universal archetype objects in a part of the Universe to which you (I) have no privy” how would we know weather they exist or not if we aren’t privy to this information.

Anonymous

And another thing, you lose rights? You lose rights like you lose the Sun when it is behind clouds? I don’t think ‘loosing’ is the right association. Not using or having rights withheld does not mean they are ‘lost’.

Anonymous

And another thing, you lose rights? You lose rights like you lose the Sun when it is behind clouds? I don’t think ‘loosing’ is the right association. Not using or having rights withheld does not mean they are ‘lost’.

Defend The Constitution

Those who understand the interdependence of morality, liberty, and prosperity also recognize that a government of principles and wisdom is impossible when democratic processes are subjected to a subservient people.

Human rights come from Nature (that’s from the Declaration of Independence). Their view of “Nature’s God” was Enlightenment-era Christianity, which has virtually nothing in common with what you think of as Christianity.

Rights do not come from any particular person or persons, whether they are atheists or Christians is not the point.

Mike Arienti

It is the point to Mr. Wall. He’s an atheist. He argues his rights can’t come from “God’ because “God” doesn’t even exist.

Montesquieu

Those who preach from collectivism’s altar attempt to justify centralized power with the fatally conceited notion that the order around us can only be maintained through the leaden threads of centralized control.

jonathan

you seem confused…collectivism and centralized power are contrary ideas

Montesquieu

Incorrect.

Over the long term, all forms of collectivism depend upon plunder and require certain people to decide who gets what, when, and how.

Montesquieu

To justify and wield arbitrary power, those who preach from collectivism’s altar often attempt to hijack democracy’s ideal by claiming that majority rule is absolute.

Chuck Reidelbach

The problem seems to be that Man has gotten too big for his own pants. Man has become God in this respect, where by Man can decide who shall live and who shall die, even before they are born. However, there seems to always be another door to open or shut after the affects of Man’s decisions. Can it be that God is control after all??? I should hope so.

jonathan

men deciding the fate of other men predates the Torah

Anonymous

Your god has never been democratic nor has it ever been interested in human rights. All it wants from people is slavish devotion and foreskins.

Good thing it’s not real because it is a bizarre and violent creature.

OT Leviticus 25:44-46:
44 About your men and women slaves: You may get men and women slaves from the other nations around you.
45 Also, you may get children as slaves if they come from the families of the foreigners living in your land. These child slaves will belong to you.
46 You may even pass these foreign slaves on to your children after you die so that they will belong to them. They will be your slaves forever. You may make slaves of these foreigners.

NT Ephesians 6:5:
Slaves, obey your masters here on earth with fear and respect. And do this with a heart that is true, just as you obey Christ

Dustin Haugh

Well, all the gods of history were created by men. So I guess if someone want’s to say that our rights come from god, they are really saying they come from man. I wish Glenn was a little more intellectually honest, and maybe a little smarter.